The Car in the Lake
by asc12
Summary: When three bodies are receovered from a 1961 missing persons case the team is on the case. But is the real mystery what is going on with their young resident pshycologist?
1. Chapter 1

ASC12: I do not of course own Bones. My closets are free of them. Or so I thought….

So I was going to not torture Sweets again but man, it's really just too fun. And there are plenty of Booth & Brennan centered stories (like the whole show) so Sweets it is. I really should have a little more range but you know what? I don't wanna!

Disclaimer: Do not own Bones in any way.

Time: This does not follow the Emma/Hank/Victor ending from the unintended "series." This would be post Daisy.

* * *

"Hey that's a classic." Booth said slowly descending the slope towards the water bank. He stood on a dried stump sticking out of the water with the squints waded in the water with waders.

"Classic?" Hodgins asked surveying the antique car upside down in the shallow waters. "It's something."

"That's a 1956 Chevrolet Bel-Air my bug friend. That's a classic." Booth reiterated.

"Well it's been at the bottom of this pond for fifty years." Hodgins reported. "Would have never found it had this drought not brought the water level so far down. Makes you wonder how many cars are in lakes and ponds you know?"

"So what do we got Bones?" Booth asked looking at his pad of paper.

"Bones." She said.

"Yeah, that's what I said, Bones."

Brennan shook her head eager to end this cycle. "Human skeletal remains." She specified. "There are two remains in the driver's seat and one in the trunk."

"Mob hit?" Booth asked.

"It appears the two in the front seat are that of two females, Caucasian, teenagers." She explained looking at the remains on the ground above. "The remains in the trunk are that of a male, Latino, early to late fifties."

"Well that's interesting." Booth said.

"Wow, you sound like Sweets." Hodgins said checking to see if the line was secure around the car again.

"I do not..." Booth said but stopped when he realized he did.

"Where is Dr. Sweets, I thought he was coming with you. We were to have lunch after this." Brennan asked.

"I don't know, I called and he said he couldn't make it, didn't say much more." Booth said. "So are we getting all this back to the Jeffersonian then?"

"All secure." Hodgins shouted and the crane pulled the vehicle from the water.

"That would be a beauty to restore." Booth said as it went by.

* * *

"So any idea when I can get the skull?" Angela asked as Brennan examined the three sets of remains laid out on the platform tables.

"We may have the identity of one of the females." Brennan explained.

"Yeah, I found this purse in the front seat of the car." Hodgins explained showing Angela what he had found. "Luckily the quality leather and the cold mud preserved them very well."

"Well who is one of them?" Angela asked as Hodgins held up the license. "Susan Kingsley, cute kid, real girl next door type."

"Well let's see what comes up with that name." Angela said typing it in the computer in time for Booth to join them. "What, no Sweets?" Angela asked looking around.

"No, he was gone when I stopped by." Booth explained with annoyance in his voice. "He left a note about having to testify or something. I could hardly read it. Said he would catch up with us later. What do we have?"

Angela sighed as the news clipping came up with two smiling and pretty young women in what were obviously high school yearbook photos. "Susan Kingsley, 17, went missing May 7, 1961. The report reads that she was heading to a graduation party with her friend, Mary Parks, 18. They never made it to the party. That sucks, they were just starting out in life, they're so young and happy."

"Did anything come of the investigation?" Hodgins asked as Angela continued to read.

"They had no indication of foul play at the time. There were rewards for the girls issued but nothing came of them." Angela read and continued scrolling. "It does look like almost a year later an officer followed up on a call that a nearby farmer was suspected of kidnapping the girls. He had been suspected of rape in the past. They searched his property but found nothing."

"So is this even a case?" Booth asked. "Besides just a cold case."

"I believe so." Brennan said while standing over the set of one of the remains. "The remains of the male in the car indicate that his throat was slit, so deeply it nicked the bone."

She held it up but Booth was not going to argue the fact with her, he as more than happy to take her word for it.

"Okay, well let's get the remains of these two women verified so I can contact their families. And if you get a hit on who this guy is let me know." Booth said leaving.

* * *

Booth flipped thru the old case reports of the missing girls from fifty three years ago. There wasn't much more than what Angela had told them earlier. The police had done their job, they had followed up multiple leads. His assistant was in the process of tracking down any of the officers who might still be around to check on what their suspicions on the case may have been, the type of things they don't write in the reports.

His cell rang and it was Angela. "I've got confirmation, those are the girls. No word yet on the guy in the trunk."

"Great I'll track down their families." Booth said already typing away.

"Bad news there, sad news really, Susan's mom died a couple of years after the incident, her health declined after losing her daughter. The dad just died two weeks ago." Angela said unable to hide the sadness in her voice.

"That sucks." Booth said thinking of how they had died not knowing what had really happened. "What about the other girl, Mary Parks?"

"I've got an address for the mother so far. I'll text it to you."

"Thanks." Booth said and hung up. He hated to tell people their kids were dead but in this case it was almost a relief to them to finally know after so many years. Brennan was still busy with the other set of remains and if he had to drive an hour he wanted to take someone with him so he decided to see if Sweets wanted to come along, since as he realized, he still hadn't heard from the kid.

Booth headed to Sweets office and started to think of when he had last seen the kid. Booth had gone from one case right into this one with only a few hours between. He hadn't worked with the kid on the previous case either. Now it started to bother Booth some where Sweets was. He hadn't thought of it before, he didn't always see Sweets everyday but this time it felt different because he felt like Sweets was eluding him. He picked up his pace towards the young psychologists office.

Booth knocked a few times but upon no answer he let himself in. He looked around but saw no one there. Booth decided to stop by and leave the kid a note just in case he stopped in. Sweets desk was usually immaculate but Booth noticed it was a mess. Papers were everywhere and there were a lot of them form various cases. Booth hoped Sweets had just been really busy and wouldn't worry about it as he left.

"Hey have you seen Dr. Sweets?" A passing agent asked as Booth emerged from his office.

"No, I was just looking for him myself." Booth answered.

"He's supposed to be working on a profile for me but I can't get ahold of him." The agent said annoyed and Booth was instantly annoyed at anyone being annoyed at Sweets when the kid must be, in his opinion so far, overwhelmed.

"Well it looks like he's pretty flooded in work right now." The other agent picked up on Booth's tone quickly and dropped the matter.

Booth's drive to meet with the mother was irritating. He had no one to talk with to blow off some steam or work anything out with. It nagged him about Sweets. If he just knew the kid was working too hard then he could tell him he needed to just relax, they'd have a drink, he'd get the kid straightened out and everything would be fine. But until he knew that he wasn't' going to be at ease. Sweets worked way too many hours for a young person in their twenties. He didn't even know if the kid had friends. He thought about it a moment and for the first time realized the kid probably didn't. Having two doctorates at his age meant he was probably a real kid in his probably brief high school years and was probably just a young teenager when going thru college. It was doubtful he could relate to classmates. The recollection that Sweets also had no family did not add to his ease.

"This is Caroline Julian." Caroline said answering the phone.

"Caroline, it's Booth, hey, are you still in court on some case, Sweets was testifying for you?"

"I'm in court yes but I don't have Sweets testifying for me. Far as I know he's not on the docket to testify for anyone, why?"

"Nothing." Booth said his teeth starting to clench. They said good bye and Booth was further irritated that Sweets had lied to him. The irrtation changed to worry when he wondered why.


	2. Chapter 2

ASC: My days are not that busy so I hope you are enjoying the stories. I've actually just gotten an idea for an all new story but should probably finish this one huh? Yeah….

* * *

2.

"Marlene Parks?" Booth asked as the frail elderly woman came to the door.

"Yes?" She asked as her shaky hand went to open the screen door.

"I'm Agent Seeley Booth with the F.B.I." He said showing his badge. It felt a bit strange not introducing anyone with him. "I'd like to talk to you about your daughter, Mary Parks."

The woman shook her head. "Son, she ran away from home years ago."

"Actually we found her body mam."

The woman looked like she was about to faint so Booth helped her over to the nearby porch swing.

"What..what…" She began.

"She was driving with a girl named Susan Kingsley." He began.

"Yes, they were best friends in high school. She went missing that same night."

"Yes, well we found their car in a pond, the drought brought the water level down and exposed it. They were both in the front seat. It appears they went off the road."

"She drowned?"

"Most likely, the car didn't have seat belts installed. We are still investigating. Mam, may I ask, why did you think she ran away?"

The elderly woman sighed. "Her father, he died ten years ago now, he wasn't a nice man. She wanted to go to college, he didn't want her to, I couldn't stand up to him. That was fifty years ago, things were a little harder back then. I wanted to see her go, I guess in my mind, some years ago I just had hoped she had. I guess it doesn't make much sense now, but I had just…hoped…"

Booth wished Sweets was there at that moment. He would know what to say. He had hoped to bring this woman closure but instead he had brought her a greater sadness.

"I'm very sorry Mrs. Parks."

"No, I guess it's good to know." The woman was trying to show a brave face but Booth could see he had left her with a greater sadness. It made the job difficult as usual.

"I'm sorry to bring this on you mam. I wanted to inquire if you recall if anything was going on with your daughter at the time."

"Why do you ask?" She saw something in Booth that suggested there was more.

"We found a man, the skeletal remains anyway, in the trunk of the car."

The woman blinked in rapidly and he didn't need Sweets there to know this was a surprise to her.

"Who was he?"

"We're working on that now, but you don't know if your daughter was involved in anything, uh, suspicious?"

"No, I, she just, was a high school student, wanting to go to college." Now her eyes welled up in tears and Booth was pretty sure he had ruined this woman's day with a false hope her daughter was living a great life some place and that she now may have been a murder. He decided it was time to go. And for some reason he decided to blame all of this on Sweets since he should have been here with him.

"Mrs. Parks, I'll go now, but if you think of anything please let me know." He handed her his card. "And we will let you know how the investigation concludes. Thank you for your time."

Booth walked to his car. "Dammit Sweets." He added under his breath.

* * *

"Sweets!" Booth said a little more excitedly than he had planned when Sweets answered the phone.

"Yeah, sorry Booth, I just got in." Sweets said over the scratchy line.

"You're at the office?" Booth wondered why there was so much interference on the line.

"Um, yeah. I was at uh, an interrogation."

"With who?" Booth asked. He could tell the boy genius was lying.

Sweets cleared his throat, he had watched Booth interrogate enough people that he knew he was on the receiving end at the moment. He would have been more guarded had he not been so tired.

"With a new agent."

"What's his name?"

"Is there a problem Agent Booth?"

"How was the testimony?"

Sweets knew Booth had caught on to his lie. "Oh, no, I didn't mean testimony, I meant an interrogation." Sweets was feeling nauseous again, he wasn't going to be able to hold off Booth much longer. He kept talking before Booth could jump in. "Booth, I've got another call coming in that I have to take, I'll call you later okay?"

"I'm on my way to your office." Booth said and hung up.

"Oh shit." Sweets said from his car.

* * *

"Agent Booth…" a voice began but Booth waved it off.

"Not now." Booth said heading straight to Sweets office and flung open the doctor.

Sweets was at his computer, though the closer Booth came the more suspicious he became. He had talked to Sweets an hour before but yet the man didn't look like he had been in his office for more than a few minutes.

Sweets tried to not appear to be breathing heavily or sweating. He kept the lights in the office low and tried to appear casual.

"Here I am Agent Booth, what did you need?" Sweets said pouring every bit of energy he had left into sounding casual.

"We've got a case, I could use some help you know." Booth was still erring on the side of annoyance. He didn't like people hiding things from him.

"Oh, what's the case?" Sweets asked trying to stay focused.

Booth's phone rang and he turned to answer. Sweets let out a deep breath of relief but the exhalation pushed against his chest causing pain. He tried to hide it with a smile as Booth turned back to look at him.

"Booth." He said answering.

"Booth, it's Angela, look we've got an ID on the other uh, victim in the car, Carlos Medinez."

"What's the story on him?" Booth asked while still watching the psychologist slowly adjust in his seat. He was trying to move like something wasn't bothering him.

"I'm not sure where to begin." Angela said. Booth now wanted to get Sweets in front of other people, maybe see if his worry was becoming well placed.

"You know what, hang on Angela, Sweets and I will be there shortly." He said hanging up. Sweets looked up with surprise.

"What? Where?"

Booth sighed an exasperated sigh of irritation. "The case? Come on, we need your help, I'll bring you up to speed on the way."

"Is it necessary?" Sweets asked not having moved. "I have a lot of paper work here I need to get thru."

"Would I be asking if it weren't?" Booth asked.

"Fine." Sweets said standing up but had to set his hand on the desk because the movement made his head spin.

"Sweets?" Booth asked.

"Just getting some files to take." He said trying to pass the momentary pause off.

Sweets stiffened as they walked down the halls to the parking lot. If he was a betting man he had his odds of passing out on the way at about sixty percent. When they hit the door and the afternoon sun hit him he would have bumped that up to about ninety percent. He pushed himself hard to stay on his feet.

"It's sure hot out." Sweets said immediately feeling the sweating fits come on.

"It's like sixty degrees." Booth said and Sweets shrugged, he would have sworn it was positively balmy out.

"Come on let's go." Booth said impatient to wait and Sweets tried to pick up his pace.

Booth and Sweets walked to the car and Booth noticed Sweets suit looked funny, baggy. After they got in the car Sweets could feel Booth's eyes trying to catch some glances at him. Booth wasn't comfortable with discussing things like this so he tried to focus on the issue. He didn't intend for it to come out as rough as it did.

"Where were you earlier, you weren't in your office."

Sweets closed the file folder, he should have known this was coming but he had been able to dodge Booth last week, he hoped to make it another week. He just wasn't sure why the ill feeling wouldn't go away.

"I was following up on a case." Sweets said though his head was starting to swim.

"With who?" Booth asked still questioning the response though this time it did sound more truthful.

"No one." Sweets was hesitating. "I went by myself."

"What do you mean, I thought you were working with another agent."

"I was, then it got assigned to just me. I've been working on it a couple of weeks now."

"What, like a patient?" Booth asked and felt like that had better be the answer.

"No, it was a case, another agent had asked me come along on the interviews. Then it was reclassified that I do the follow up." Sweets could tell by the tension radiating off Booth that was not the answer he wanted.

"You're doing field work, for another agent?" Booth asked in a clipped tone.

"I was just interviewing some suspects, I mean, people." _Crap, that was the wrong slip._

Booth felt like he was about to slam on the breaks. "You went and interviewed suspects, in the field, by yourself? Tell me where and what and why you didn't call an agent in _any agent_."

Sweets was pissed now. "I'm not a toddler Booth, I have a gun, I can handle myself."

"Where did you go that you needed to take a gun?"

Sweets was now pissed at himself. "It went fine. I got what I needed, there wasn't a problem." He could see Booth was not satisfied. "By the water front, it's not a great neighborhood…"

"Not a great neighborhood? Are you insane Sweets? You take an agent with you when…."

"Everyone was busy." Sweets said simply. Booth stopped. He realized he meant that Booth was busy.

"Next time, just make sure someone goes okay?"

"Yeah sure." Sweets said hard-hearted and flipped open the file again.

"Hey Sweetie, what's wrong?" Angela asked when they came in.

"Nothing's wrong." Sweets said but he saw Angela wasn't convinced.

"What's new Angela?" Booth asked though keeping one eye on the young doctor who was swaying just a little bit.

"Okay so Carlos Medinez was practically a ghost except for the fact he was picked up by the local police department for trying to pass stolen travelers checks. Other than that he has no record." Angela explained.

"Okay so how does that help us?"

"The stolen travelers checks were reported missing by a Steven Lenahan. He was the father of John Lenahan, who was dating Susan Kingley." Angela explained.

"So Lenahan, father or son, kills Medinez and throws him in the trunk of his girlfriend's car?" Sweets asked but knew that just didn't sound right.

"I don't know, so far I just know this." Angela said as Brennan walked in the room.

"We also know that Mr. Medinez's hands were tied behind his back at the time of his death. I found these." She clicked to bring up marks on the bone on the screen. "These lacerations went thru the skin and nicked the bone. He was obviously struggling a great deal just before his death.

"He was trying to get away from something." Booth surmised. "Is this John Lenahan still around?"

"Yeah, but here's the only problem I see with suggesting that John or Steven Lenahan had a play in this murder." Angela pulled up two photos of the men at that time from a social engagement. She then put a figure with their body types on the other screen. "Both of these men were around 5'6" and at best 150 pounds. Carlos Medinez weighed in at around 200 pounds and towered over six feet. If Medinez was struggling at the time of his death, they needed help."

Booth looked over at Sweets whose eyes were about to close shut. "Sweets!" Booth said shocking the man back to awake. The sudden motion rocked Sweets stomach.

"Excuse me." He said and walked quickly from the room to the bathroom.

_Well so much for that banana and toast. _Sweets thought upon flushing the toilet. He washed his hands and peered out the door. He knew Booth was going to be waiting on him. He didn't want to have to answer any more of his questions. He pulled out his cell phone and called a cab.

* * *

"What was that about?" Hodgins asked coming into Angela's office as Sweets ran past.

"I don't know." Booth said. He still didn't know how to approach Sweets about it.

"He looks awful." Angela said and they turned to her. "What? I'm not trying to be mean, he just looks really sick, I think he's lost ten pounds."

"Has Dr. Sweets sought medical attention?" Brennan asked and Booth had a feeling in his gut that was a "no."

"Well should we say something?" Hodgins asked hoping he didn't have to be the one. They all seemed to be waiting for Booth to volunteer.

"Fine. I'll talk to him on the way back. He's just sort of hard to talk to when he's like this." Booth whined, he didn't want to talk about it at all. "So back to the case, do we have anything else to go on?"

"All I see is that Steven Lenahan filed the checks as missing, the police picked up Medinez when he ran a red light. They went thru his glove box and there they were." Angela said filling them in on everything she had.

"Do you have an address on John Lenahan?" Booth asked. "Sweets and I can head over there."

"Uh, Sweets just left in a cab." Cam said walking in.

* * *

Booth went back to his car after three consecutive unsuccessful calls to Sweets cell. On the seat of the passenger seat he saw the files Sweets had brought with him. He hesitated but he wanted to know what Sweets had been working on. He saw Sweets as his own investigation and now he was going to find out what was going on.

He opened the first file to see the profile of a Hispanic gang member in his fifties. Sweets had very neatly handwritten notes on the suspect in the folder. The next folder was the same, and another set of notes, not quite as nicely written. The third folder was another Hispanic male, this one younger, but the accompanying notes to this one nearly illegible. One line he could read was a follow up written by Sweets, "visit with suspect did not go well, do not recommend revisiting unless take Agent Booth."

Booth was not pleased, mostly with himself.


	3. Chapter 3

ASC: This chapter involved several rewrites so it took me a while...

* * *

3.

Sweets was only a few blocks from the bureau as he sat in his car. His head couldn't focus and he'd nearly caused two accidents. His plans to come back to the office were not realized as he knew Booth would come there looking for him. He began to drive home but Booth might find him there as well. He wasn't sure why but it was all so confusing. He couldn't think straight, was burning hot and as of two minutes ago, and then threw up something he didn't even remember eating. He was parched but nothing would stay down.

Something in his mind said this was all a problem but he wanted to ignore it. He told himself he was fine and he was going to be fine. He didn't want attention to not feeling well. He was at a constant disadvantage being small for his age, being younger than everyone around him, he had to be at the top of his game, at all times. He had to get it together and help solve this case.

His phone rang a fourth time and he knew if he didn't answer Booth might have him in the director's office.

"Yeah Booth what's up?" Sweets was proud of how casual he sounded, or hoped he sounded.

"Where you at Sweets?" Booth asked trying to control his temper.

"Oh, back at the office." Sweets said putting the car back in drive. He'd better follow thru on his promise this time. "Sorry I left, I just have a lot of work to do and I thought you would want to stay there and work on the case. I can do my part from my office and I promise I will get right on it."

"You left your files in my car." Booth said and Sweets knew that meant Booth had read thru them. "You know it might have helped if you had listened to the details of the case and you might have found out something very interesting."

"And what's that?" Sweets asked annoyed.

"One of your suspects, Alex Garcia is the son of our dead guy, Carlos Medinez, whose mother was none other than Susan Kingsley. Looks like our cases are connected."

"Looks like." Sweets said pulling back into the lot and seeing Booth and Brennan parked in Sweets parking space waving at him.

Sweets sighed and pushed on, trying to ignore what ailed him.

* * *

Sweets parked his car and got in the back seat of Booths' SUV while Brennan sat in the front seat.

"Where are we going?" Sweets asked as he put his seat belt on.

"First we are going to meet John Lenahan, sorry, Dr. John Lenahan now and then we'll go and visit your friend Alex Garcia. Unless you want to bring us up to speed on him." Booth offered.

Sweets weighed the options of going back to see Alex who threw several verbal threats and two well-placed punches in Sweets side when he visited last week.

"Alex Garcia was suspected to be retagging stolen credit cards." Sweets said.

"Huh, a modern version of what his father was suspected of doing." Brennan observed.

"Why did the agent ask you to go?" Booth asked as Sweets let out a yawn he couldn't keep in.

"I could speak some Spanish." Sweets said feeling like that requirement was about useless, he wondered idly if he was useless. He felt useless, and tired. He put his head against the window frame.

"What did you find out?" Booth asked and looked back after he heard no answer. Sweets was asleep. "Really?"

"If you're concerned about Sweets I think you should be. He doesn't look well." Brennan observed.

"What's wrong with him?" Booth asked.

"I wouldn't know without an examination by a professional. It would appear at he's lost weight and he is extremely pale." Brennan offered.

"Well let's get this case wrapped up and maybe he can get some rest or something."

"I think he's doing that now." Brennan observed but Booth wondered if it were more.

Sweets insisted he was fine but he didn't look fine. _How do you help someone who doesn't want your help?_ He wondered. Sweets was always persistent at helping Booth, or anyone else. He knew it were fair to return that level of concern but Sweets was good with those "feelings" conversations, Booth was not.

* * *

Sweets head popped up as the car came to a stop and the front door opened. He felt heavily dazed at what was going on. He knew he had never fallen completely asleep and thus he never felt completely rested. He was trying to listen in on the conversation from the front seat but it was too hard to concentrate on it and instead the sounds faded in and out. His door opened up and he realized he was being asked something a second time.

"Come on let's go." Booth said and Sweets took off his seat belt to slowly get out of the car. He was confused as to why they were outside a restaurant.

"I thought we were going to see Doctor…" He wanted to say _what's his name_. He realized how truly tired he was and increasingly irritated because of that.

"After lunch." Booth answered. Sweets sighed as he followed Booth and Brennan in.

They both ordered big lunches and Sweets could feel he was going to have to order one too. His stomach sent up signals that that would be a bad idea but he ignored them and ordered a cheeseburger and fries. Booth and Brennan were pleased as they smiled broadly.

Sweets could tell Booth was looking for a way to start digging in on information again and he wanted to find a preemptive strike to effectively end the conversation, even if it were a bad one. Booth started to move his lips and Sweets said the first thing that came to mind.

"I'm thinking of leaving the bureau." Sweets said and Booth and Brennan sat stunned. It was the first thing that came to his mind, maybe not the best.

"What? Why?" Booth asked.

"Well, I'm really not doing anyone any good, and I'm pretty sure none of my colleagues take me seriously." Sweets meant it to be a diversion but it was starting to sound pretty accurate to him.

"Why do you think that?" Brennan asked.

"Really? Coming from you? Mrs. Soft science?"

"Hey." Booth said cautioning him to not take that sort of tone with his wife. Sweets had to laugh internally at the fact Booth never stopped her from insulting his line of work. "Look Sweets, is obvious we need you here, solving cases."

"I will admit that your work has brought us to the correct conclusion on many cases." Brennan said.

Normally Sweets would have somersaulted at the near compliment but his current plan was to piss them off enough to not talk to him.

"There's a lot of money that can be made in the private field." Sweets said trying a new approach.

"I didn't realize you were so in it for the money." Booth said obviously irritated.

"It's just time to start looking at some changes." Sweets was enjoying this to a certain degree, his plan was working.

Until the food arrived. While it looked delectable he scoured at its sight. Booth and Brennan looked at him expectantly with plans for him to eat though he could tell their mood toward him had shifted. He shoved the hamburger in his mouth and ate it. He hated every bite but enjoyed the silence as it went down, though hard to swallow.

The car ride to the last leg of the trip was in total silence. Sweets would have liked to have drifted off again but he now found himself jittery and uncomfortable. He didn't like making people around him mad and had to constantly suppress the urge to correct it. His stomach was sending him heavy reminders that the lunch was not welcome.

"Come on Sweets, let's go." Booth said coaxing the man to move faster. "His office is just down this way." Booth said looking at his notes.

"I'll meet you there." Sweets said casually and took a left.

"Where's he going?" Brennan asked and Booth shrugged his shoulders.

Sweets had eyed a restroom sign pointing down the hall and once Booth & Brennan were out of sight he lost his cool exterior and bolted for the restroom. His stomach offered a painful reminder of what it tried to tell him earlier.

Sweets now thought of his stomach as a mortal enemy who was getting back at him ten fold. He splashed cold water over his face but had to hold the edges of the sink to keep his legs from wobbling. He regained his composure the best he could as headed to meet up with the agents.

He walked in mid-interview and introduced himself. Sweets didn't notice the concerned look in the doctor's eye. The doctor noticed the man's coworkers did not seem concerned so he said nothing. He was still a bit confused about the news of Susan Kingsley's remains being discovered.

"You were dating Susan Kingsley?" Booth asked and the doctor laughed.

"Yes about fifty years ago."

"Didn't you ever wonder what happened to her?" Booth asked. Sweets was busy looking out the window and not listening to a word, his concentration was completely absent like a ghost sitting in a chair at the back of the room.

"Yeah, I did. But I hoped for something good, though Susan wasn't the type of person to just pick up and leave." The doctor said with a genuine sadness.

"Do you remember a Carlos Medinez?" Booth asked.

The doctor nodded his head. "I wish I couldn't."

"What can you tell us about him?"

"He was a gardener at the country club. We weren't rich kids, but our folks had good money, mine and Susan's. Everyone wanted us to be together. And I really loved her too." They could see the fond memories in his eyes. "But one day in our junior year she up and left to study abroad. She came back for senior year and she was sort of different. It was almost time for graduation again and we were back together, the future looked bright, and then she was gone again. Mr. Medinez had taken some travelers checks from my dad's bad, presumably while we were at the club one day. He reported them missing and the cops found them a while later on Medinez and arrested him."

"Did you know of anything going on between her and Mr. Medinez?"

"Medinez? No, nothing. Why?"

Brennan took the answer to that question. "We were able to run DNA from Mr. Medinez and Ms. Kingsley, they both came up to a match in our system to an Alex Garcia. Upon further analysis it showed that he was their son."

The doctor emanated shock.

"You didn't know that they had a child together?" Booth asked but he knew the answer was no.

"That explains why she went away." The doctor said and the picture became a bit clearer based on the ear.

"So Ms. Kingsley found herself pregnant and went away, which was not uncommon at the time to have the baby." Brennan explained.

"She never mentioned it." Dr. Lenahan said. "But now it explains a lot."

"But maybe you did know and you were upset about it." Booth suggested.

"Agent Booth I'm learning all this for the first time. And had I known sooner, yeah, maybe I would have done something about it. But that was a long time ago. I loved Susan." Booth knew the man was genuine and he wondered where the heck Sweets was with his observations and saw him in the back of the room, nearly asleep again. Booth was irritated.

"Where were you that night, at the graduation party?" Booth asked.

The doctor thought back and smiled. "No, I was not. We were graduating the next day and I was forced to go to an event with my family, at the country club to celebrate my going to medical school. There are dozens of people still around if you wish to question them, tons of photos. If I hadn't had to go I would have taken Susan to the party. A regret I've always carried."

"Thank you for your time." Booth said as they got up and left. Brennan nudged Sweets shoulder to wake him up.

Sweets walked in the hall with Booth but the doctor paused Brennan.

"I can't be sure but I think there is something wrong with your coworker. I would have him checked out very soon. If you have time, I would be happy to see him for a moment."

"Thank you Dr. Lenahan." Brennan said but was instantly distracted by the time she reached the hall.

"What the hell was that?" Booth was asking Sweets.

"What?" Sweets asked trying to concentrate.

"You fell asleep in the interview!"

"Well why did I have to come along?" Sweets wasn't so much complaining as he was almost wondering to himself why he was there.

"Let's see, um, to help us solve a case! You know if you aren't too busy sleeping, what are you so tired from anyway?"

"Booth, perhaps we could step outside, Dr. Lenahan has some questions for Dr. Sweets." Brennan asked gently motioning Booth to the door.

"What? Why?" Sweets asked and she motioned for him to go in while she and Booth went outside.

Sweets walked in the office with a knock on the door.

"Hello?" Sweets asked.

"Hello Dr. Sweets, I asked Dr. Brennan to ask you to come back in for a moment, how are you feeling, you don't look well, have you seen anyone?"

Sweets realized his ill health was a little more obvious that he had planned.

"Yeah, a week ago. I had an incident, a scuffle with a suspect at work and followed up with a doctor. He gave me a prescription but I'm afraid I haven't been reacting well to it."

"Oh, what was the name of it, maybe I can suggest something better." The doctor suggested feeling concerned. The young man looked terrible.

Sweets turned and leaned against the doctor's desk. His fingers felt a prescription pad under them. He tried to come up with a medication that sounded right but came up with nothing. "I don't remember, it was a long name with a lot of vowels." Sweets lied. "But I appreciate your concern doctor. I'm sure my frie…coworkers are waiting on me so I'd better get going. I'll follow up with my doctor and ask for something new. Thank you."

Before the doctor could interject Sweets was down the hall. He stopped at the bathroom again to throw some cold water on his face. He now realized that others were noticing his condition and he knew he had to work harder to conceal it. He pulled himself together and pushed down the nausea and nerves and forced himself to pay attention.

"Alright let's go." Booth said as a more alert Sweets got in the car.

As the drove away Sweets cleared his throat. "Look guys, I'm sorry I've been out of it lately. I haven't been sleeping well and I shouldn't be bringing that into work with me. I promise to be concentrating on the case."

"We're just concerned is all Sweets." Brennan said since Booth had yet to defrost.

Sweets didn't like people to feel sorry for him, being a sickly child who was poked fun of he had a sore spot for it. "I appreciate that but I'm fine."

Sweets saw a pharmacy approaching in the distance. "But I could really use some Tums, would you mind stopping?" He asked and Booth pulled into the parking lot without saying anything.

"What do you think?" Brennan asked.

"I think something is wrong and he's not going to tell us." Booth said firmly.

"What should we do?" Brennan asked concerned. "What would Sweets do?"

"Pester us incessantly until we told him what was wrong. But I think if we push Sweets he will only pull back more." Booth observed. "He holds a lot in."

"So we wait until he says something?" Brennan asked, nervous at that plan.

"Yeah, I mean Sweets isn't stupid, he won't get in over his head. Some girl probably turned him down and he's upset about it and doesn't want to tell us because we'll make fun of him."

"I don't know Booth, but if you think so."

Sweets headed inside and once inside pulled out the page of the prescription pad from the doctor's pad. He wrote himself a prescription and handed it to the pharmacist. While Sweets was a psychologist he was not a psychiatrist so he could not prescribe medications. But he knew what he wanted.

He took his prescription with him and popped the bottle on the way to the car. He was going to stay awake now whether his body wanted him to or not.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

"So you don't think the boyfriend did it?" Angela asked as the team was assembled in Angela's office.

Booth was about to speak but the very awake and alert Sweets cut in.

"He seemed to emanate a very genuine concern and sadness for Susan Kingsley." Sweets said and Booth wondered how he picked that up in his sleep.

"What about this son of theirs Alex Garcia?" Cam asked.

Again Sweets started to talk before Booth could. "I've interviewed him before unrelated to this case. It's not easy to locate him until late at night. We can track him down then but my guess is he's not knowledgeable about his parents." Sweets was talking fast which he hoped they would think was normal and his heart was racing. He had tucked his hands at his side so they didn't notice how jittery the uppers had made his hands.

Booth nodded impressed that Sweets was back on board. Sweets noticed and was glad he was able to please Booth. A passing thought asked him at what cost but Sweets chose to ignore it.

"So they have a kid together and then give him up for adoption?" Angela asked. "Still doesn't explain how he ended up dead in the back of her car."

"Well Alex Garcia doesn't have any adoption records." Hodgins said. "So what did Susan do with the baby? And who can we ask?"

Booth sighed, "Both her parents are dead."

"What about the friend's mom?" Sweets asked grasping at what they read in the file.

"We can try it." Booth said.

"I would like to rexamine Mr. Medinez's bones. Now that they have been more thoroughly leaned I was to take another look, something seems out of place." Brennan suggested.

"Let's go." He directed at the young psychologist. He was taking him along this time.

* * *

"Look Booth, I'm sorry what I said before. I don't have any intentions of leaving the bureau. Sometimes I just get, I don't know." Sweets said in the car ride.

Booth noticed Sweets had a hard time sitting still. His foot tapped and so Sweets fingers were keeping a quick tap on his own knee. It was distracting, and a little concerning, it reminded him of a little of junkie though not quite as bad. Sweets caught Booth's glance and balled up his hand to try and get them to relax when he unballed them.

"It's okay Sweets, I'm glad you're not leaving. I know the work can seem unrewarding at times but it's worth it. And you're a valuable part of that." Booth said but wasn't sure how much Sweets had noticed since he was busy eying another pharmacy.

"You need something else?" Booth asked with a mixture of surprise and concern. Sweets noticed.

"No, no, I'm fine." He instead would have to concentrate on keeping his nerves calm which meant that the conversation had to stop.

* * *

"Marlene Parks?" Booth asked as the woman answered the door again.

"Agent Booth, did you have any news?" She asked.

"Not exactly, but I do have a few more questions I'm hoping you might be able to help me with."

"Come in." She said and Booth introduced Sweets. They sat in her living room and Booth noticed Sweets knee bouncing again. Sweets put his palm over it to try and calm the twitch.

"I'm sorry to bother you again Mrs. Parks, but do you know if your daughter Mary Parks knew anything about her friend Susan having a baby?"

Marlene sighed and Booth was relieved that she had.

"No one was supposed to know." She began. "Mary knew, Mary noticed everything about Susan and vice versa. They were good friends, inseparable and always looked out for each other. Susan was the one who encouraged Mary to put in all those college applications when her father didn't help. When Susan found out she was pregnant she came to Mary. I overheard the conversation and pretended to not be involved at first. But Mary was so worried for Susan."

Booth admired the friendship between the women. He wondered if he was not paying that kind of attention to Sweets. If something was wrong with Booth, Sweets would have been persistent about it Booth knew. He was pulled from his thoughts as the interview continued.

"What was the relationship between Susan and the father?" Sweets asked.

"There wasn't one. He forced himself on her one night at the country club. Susan came over after it had happened. She didn't want to tell anyone. She was afraid John would break up with her. She was over here a few months later when she found out the even worse news." The elderly woman explained. "I would have said something before but it was all said and done before that accident. And for so long no one was supposed to know. By the time of graduation Susan was back with John and they were so happy and ready to head off to college, so was Mary. Then they were gone."

"So Susan left to have the baby and came back later?" Booth asked.

"No, they all said she went away but she was at home. Mary went over and saw her all the time but it was all extremely hush hush." The woman explained.

"What happened with the baby?" Sweets asked.

"That I wasn't exactly sure, I don't think even Susan knew. Her parents took her to a hospital up north a week before she was due and they didn't come back with the baby. I presumed that someone had adopted it."

"With no records, it must not have been an entirely legal adoption." Booth mused. "Well, I want to thank you for your time again."

"The night of the party, did Susan come and pick up Mary?" Sweets asked.

"Yes, Mary's parents had more money so she had her own car. She took Mary everywhere."

"How did she seem when she got here?"

"Happy, they were excited to go to the party."

Sweets nodded and Booth looked at him quizzically.

They stood up to leave.

"Yes, thank you Mrs. Parks. I know this is hard to think back to all of this again. But while it doesn't seem like it today, there will be a feeling of closure soon. And with you helping us, it will help a lot of other people heal as well." Sweets said and Booth beamed. This is the Sweets he needed on the first visit, on any visit. "Do you have a restroom I might use?" Sweets asked and Booth was puzzled. He'd never asked to use a restroom of an interviewee, that seemed tacky, that's was gas stations were for.

The older lady pointed in the direction and Booth now found himself wondering what to talk to the woman about in his absence.

"Do you have an old year book or anything of Mary's?" He asked.

Sweets tried to casually walk to the restroom though he was sure his heart was going to beat out of his chest. After he closed the door he frantically searched the medicine cabinet. He wasn't for sure he was having a heart attack but it felt damn near close. He was sure now he'd taken too many uppers. He finally located what he was looking for and popped a few. He felt bad but he took the old lady's bottle and left the restroom.

Booth was taking a book from the lady when Sweets came out trying to breath steadily. He was feeling a bout of vomit rise but he swallowed it back down. Even the crackers from the pharmacy stop earlier were apparently too much for him.

"Ready?" Sweets asked anxious to leave with his stolen medications. He idly wondered if this was getting worse if he were now stealing prescriptions from the elderly to hide whatever was going on with him from Booth. The psychologist in him chastised him while the rest of him told that guy to shut up.

"Well since we're out of other leads, ready to go and see Alex Garcia?" Booth asked as the shut the door and Sweets was sure he was going to pass out, throw up, and have a heart attack. In what order he wasn't sure.

* * *

"This the right area?" Booth asked and the very pale Sweets nodded. Booth didn't so much notice the color gone from Sweets face as night had now fallen. It had been a long day of driving and questioning and Sweets was near literally a dead man on his feet.

Sweets caught the door as he stepped out needing time to steady himself on unsure feet. He reached in and popped another upper while Booth wasn't looking so he could make it thru the next few minutes.

They walked up to a garage that was surely more a chop shop. A man in his fifties stepped forward from the raised garage door while several others inside stopped. Booth looked to Sweets who nodded that was indeed Alex Garcia.

"What do you want here again, back for more?" He taunted to Sweets who looked away. Booth narrowed his eyes at what had happened last time. He was gaining suspicion it wasn't the mere questioning session that Sweets suggested.

"Look pal, we're just here with a few questions about your dad." Booth said feeling the need to step forward and keep Sweets a little farther away.

"My parents, I ain't got no parents. I got dropped off at an orphanage fifty years ago. No one wanted to adopt a little kid like me, wasn't the right color." He spat with obvious anger and part of him didn't blame him for that. Alex more strongly resembled the photos of the father than Susan. Which Booth pondered may have been a reason to leave the child at the orphanage.

"So you never met your real parents?" Booth asked again.

"No, why, they millionaires or something?" Alex asked and Booth rolled his eyes.

"No, they're dead. They've been dead about fifty years." Booth said and saw this lead was getting them nowhere and they were out of options for suspects.

"Well thanks for nothing man." Alex said irritated again.

Sweets was perking up as the drugs were starting to take effect. "Mr. Garcia it's possible that even though you did not start well in life that things do not have to end that way." Sweets said but his words did not have the same effect they had on Mrs. Parks.

Alex moved swiftly throwing Sweets up against the garage wall. While holding him in place with one hand he delivered a swift and hard upper cut to Sweets ribs, again. Sweets too slow and tired to react merely stayed in place and began to fold over. Booth was there before Garcia could deliver a second blow.

Booth pulled Garcia away and Sweets fell to the ground. Sweets couldn't stop the crackers from coming up this time.

Before Garcia could punch Booth, Booth had pulled his gun and Garcia put his hands up. Multiple members of the garage had come forward and Booth knew the value of losing the battle to win the war. He would retreat and come again with more arms another day.

"Sweets, let's go." Booth said walking up to his junior partner.

Sweets wiped his mouth with the back of his hand only to see a smear of blood. He quickly wiped it away before Booth could see and stood on unsteady feet. He walked to the car with Booth while the members followed slowly in tow. Sweets was partly glad Booth was so focused on the garage members to see Sweets continue to wipe away the blood.

They quickly got in the car and sped off. Once they were blocks away Booth finally took his eyes off the rear view mirror and let out a heavy sigh.

"You gonna tell me what happened last time?" Booth asked Sweets.

"I asked him some questions, he got mad, hit me in the side, pretty much like that but twice, told me if I can back he'd kill me and I left." Sweets said now feeling like his insides were on fire. He had no ability to lie, he was too exhausted. He thought about the time since last week when he had not eaten or slept in that time and been in constant pains and aches. He left that part out.

"Oh. Well, I appreciate you, you know, telling me." Booth said surprised Sweets wasn't lying anymore. "I can't believe you went there Sweets, that guy was pretty scary, even to me."

"What can I say, I'm a tough guy." Sweets said leaning his head against the head rest and closing his eyes.

Booth knew Sweets was being sarcastic but he stopped for a minute to think it really was true, more than Booth would outwardly give Sweets credit for. Sweets had a tough time growing up with child abuse Booth knew he only knew the tip of the ice berg of. He must have never had a good time in grade school, high school or college not having anything in common with classmates due to his young age, which pretty much transferred to his career at the F.B.I. where no one gave him much credit still from his age. Not even from those who were supposed to be his friends.

Booth felt bad about that when he realized how much crap they had given the psychologist over the years, always keeping him a little at arm's length when they knew full well he had no other family.

"Look Sweets…" Booth began but paused when Sweets groaned. "Sweets, you okay?"

"What?" Sweets asked bringing his swimming head back up. "Yeah, sorry, headache. Long day."

"Yeah." Booth said feeling guilty he was about to drop the subject, _again_. "Let's go home and get some rest, we can get on this tomorrow. It's late."

Sweets nodded but needed a distraction to stay awake. He saw the yearbook of Mary Parks on the floor and flipped it open. Sweets strained to read some of the handwritten notes in the book pages.

He paused while reading one of them.

"What is it?" Booth asked.

"I think I know what happened." Sweets said. "Let's go back to the lab."

* * *

"So what are we doing here at the car?" Booth asked as they had gathered around it.

"We knew that Susan had their baby, out of wedlock. We assumed that Carlos Medinez had no idea that Susan was pregnant. But then I found this in excerpt in Mary's yearbook." Sweets said picking it up to read. "Suzy, my friend and my savior. I owe you my future as I will go to college because of you. And to you I will be your savior, just because he knows he won't hurt you anymore. We'll be going off to a better life and together." Sweets put the yearbook down. "Now presumably she meant college and not the bottom of the lake, but she references 'just because he knows' so I think Carlos Medinez found out she had a baby."

"But that could have meant something else." Hodgins said.

"So what are you suggesting?" Cam asked.

"Hodgins said he found no other prints on the car besides that of the family correct?" Sweets asked.

"Yeah but a killer may have worn gloves." Hodgins said.

"What's your point kid?" Booth asked tired.

"When Susan came to pick up Mary Mrs. Parks said she was happy. I don't think she had any idea that body was in the trunk."

"The girls could have killed him." Angela said.

"Two girls each weighing in at what 110 pounds and five two?" Sweets asked. "Even drugged they couldn't get him in the car. Angela, can you pull up that one article around the time of the girl's deaths. I read it in one of the files."

Booth remembered Sweets flipping thru the files each time they were in the car but he didn't realized he had absorbed so much information.

"This one?" Angela asked holding up the tablet.

"Yeah, this caught my attention, see where Susan's dad comments on his daughter's disappearance?" Sweets said pointing a hand to it but drawing the shaking hand away quickly.

Angela began to read the article out loud. "The wrong things happen to the wrong people. My daughter was perfect, an angel. I thought I had saved her this time. Huh, that is weird."

"I think that Medinez showed up at the house. He had found out that Susan had a baby, their baby and came to confront her about it but her dad came outside first. He probably put two and two together and figured out he was the father. I'm betting they got into it." Sweets said.

"Based on the photos, Susan's dad was a large man." Brennan suggested.

"He could have tried to blackmail the dad or expose the secret if he didn't give him money, we have evidence enough that if he were stealing money thru the traveler's checks he would be hitting a payload with that kind of thing." Hodgins suggested.

"So he shows up," Booth said thinking about it while in motion. "Dad comes out and wants to keep his daughter safe from this guy. They get into it, maybe over money and he ties him up and kills him?"

"Yeah but how does he tie him up and slit his throat?" Angela asked.

"Once the bones were thoroughly cleaned I was able to see that the wound while sharp had fracturing around it, as though it were crushed." Brennan explained.

"Exactly." Sweets said stepping closer to the back of the old car. "I think that the two men got into a fight and Medinez tripped and fell on the opened truck."

"What like this?" Hodgins asked reenacting it.

"Yeah put his hands were parallel to his neck since he trying to catch himself." Sweets explained and Hodgins moved his hands so that his neck was over the opening of the trunk over the closure and his hands parallel and over the opening.

"I think Susan's father then, in a fit of rage pulled the trunk lid down." Sweets said while lowering it but not enough to hit Hodgins.

"With that trunk being made of all metal it would have fractured both of his wrists and severed the artery. With the sharp edges of the trunk on these old cars it would have mimicked his throat and wrists being slit." Brennan observed looking at the car more closely. "We can compare this edge to the bones."

"So he pushed the body in the trunk and was going to dispose of it." Booth said.

"Until Susan came out and needed the car to leave for the party." Sweets said.

"She left with the body in the trunk, having no idea it was there." Booth said.

"The weight of the body in the drunk caused the car to bounce and the car tire to blow out." Hodgins said pointing to what was left of the rubber tire. All the others had been intact.

"And the car flipped and went in the lake." Cam said.

"And the father felt forever guilty but he couldn't really say anything." Angela said.

"Sad ending for everyone involved." Booth said. "Parents, Susan, Mary, John, even Alex."

"Everyone had their secrets." Angela observed.

Booth looked at Sweets in that moment but didn't want to say anything in front of the group.

"Let's go for a drink." He said. "It's late and this was a long day. Whaddya say?"

The group smiled and nodded, happy to close the case.

"Sweets, you in?" Booth asked as he hadn't nodded yet.

"Uh, sure." Sweets said.

Booth was glad because he was the reason Booth had suggested it, he hoped a drink might loosen the young man up enough to talk.

"Sweets, your car is still at the office, why don't you ride with me and Bones." Booth suggested and he nodded.

Booth noticed Sweets winced some when he walked and he figured it was part of the blow to the side he took earlier.

* * *

Sweets sat in the back seat and the late night and the long day made his eyes droopy. His body was finally stopping it's constant throb and he felt warm all over, and tired, very tired. He rested his head against the window again.

"Sweets, that was great work tonight." Booth said from the front seat. Brennan noticed his sudden compliment and realized they didn't mention that often.

"Yes, I don't think we would have figured it out without your…." She searched for the right word. "Insights." She nodded, she was pleased with that selection.

"Gives you plenty of reason to stick around right?" Booth asked but there was no response from the back seat. "Sweets?" He asked again but nothing.

"He must have fallen asleep again." Brennan suggested and they continued to the Four Fathers.

* * *

They arrived and Booth and Brennan got out to head in the bar but Sweets was still in the car. Booth went over to the door and opened it. Sweets didn't wake up, instead his limp body fell from the car and towards Booth. Booth had to move quickly from stopping him to fall to the ground. Sweets hadn't gotten his seat belt on so he was completely out of the car when Booth got a hold of him.

"Sweets, buddy, wake up." Booth said slapping his cheeks.

Greatly alarmed Brennan rushed over She put her fingers on Sweets neck.

"Booth, he's not breathing!" she shouted.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

"What?!" Booth asked but reacted an immediately pulled out his cell phone to call for an ambulance.

"What's going on?" Hodgins asked as he and Angela ran over seeing the three there in distress as they arrived.

"Sweets isn't breathing." Brennan said laying him down on the ground and immediately began CPR. Hodgins came to the other side to check for a pulse.

After a few moments while Booth was on the phone Hodgins reported that he had a faint pulse and Brennan that he was breathing shallow.

Cam had in the meantime located them having run the rest of the way barefoot since her designer heels had slowed her down considerably.

"What happened?" She asked as she began to assess Sweets.

"He just passed out." Brennan said. "But he's been looking ill."

"Yes, I noticed but I didn't ask. I should have asked." She added quietly and they all immediately felt consumed with guilt.

"Any ideas guys?" She asked and as she touched Sweets side he turned in pain.

"He got hit, the suspect, Alex Garcia, he hit him earlier, oh and last week, it was a pretty tough hit." Booth said.

Cam's face lost its color. "Seeley, how close is that ambulance?"

They didn't like how that sounded.

Before he could answer the sirens were approaching and Hodgins flagged it down.

"What do we have?" One of the paramedics asked as they approached.

"Male, late twenties." Cam said giving them stats. "No previous history of illness, I think he has internal bleeding from a trauma to the chest."

They all stood stunned as she said it. They knew that was not good.

"Can you come with us miss?" the paramedic asked now moving faster that he had her diagnosis.

"Yes of course." Cam said getting in the ambulance with Sweets. She hadn't even noticed she left her expensive shoes behind.

"Let's go." Booth said as he, Brennan, Angela and Hodgins climbed in Booth's SUV.

* * *

"What does internal bleeding mean exactly?" Booth asked quietly as they followed the racing ambulance.

"It can depend on where the bleeding is." Brennan said finding her voice was betraying her as it cracked. "The signs were there, why didn't I see the signs?" She said to herself mostly.

"I think we all missed them Sweetie." Angela added.

"Will Sweets be okay?" Booth asked.

"It depends." Hodgins answered and Booth didn't like that prognosis.

* * *

The group walked into the hospital to find a barefoot Cam waiting.

"How is he?" They asked as they rushed closer.

"I answered everything I hoped I knew about Sweets." She said feeling shaky now. "They are taking him into surgery."

They walked over to a waiting area out of the way but still they pressed Cam for questions.

"Did they say how he was?" Booth asked.

Cam sighed. "Sweets regained enough consciousness to answer some questions. I don't think he knew I was there or he may not have said anything. They asked if he had thrown up blood, he said he had."

"Oh my God." Angela said putting her hand to her mouth.

"When?" Booth asked surprised.

"Sometime recent." Cam answered.

"So he stood there solving this case while he was…." Hodgins said but couldn't finish.

"It looks that way yes. In fact it looks like this may have started a week ago. Apparently Dr. Sweets is suffering from malnutrition and dehydration as well, I thought he looked thin but… Oh and it gets worse." She added after taking a breath. She figured they had better know the whole story. "They found medications in his pockets. Uppers and downers. One of which was from your interviewee, Mrs. Parks."

"Sweets stole meds from the old lady?" Hodgins asked.

"And the other one was written from Dr. John Lenahan." She explained.

"He wrote Sweets a prescription?" Booth asked.

"It's more likely that now that Sweets stole a page off his prescription pad." Brennan assumed.

"All this has further complicated his already fragile system with the internal bleeding. What the first hits last week started were erupted fully by this one earlier tonight." Cam said feeling thoroughly exhausted.

"Why didn't he say anything?" Angela asked in frustration and distress.

"He didn't think he could." Booth said. He had not been the Mary to his Susan.

"Let's wait over here." Brennan suggested seeing the look of remorse on Booth's face.

* * *

"Friends of Lance Sweets?" A lovely female doctor asked in a soft voice.

"Yes!" Cam said standing up but the doctor motioned for them to sit down and she joined them.

"I'm Dr. Kimberly Jones. I was treating Dr. Sweets. He is out of surgery and we had successfully stopped the bleeding. I understand most of you have a medical back ground?"

A few heads nodded yes but she noticed not all so she kept her explanation in laymen's terms for the two who did not nod.

"We initially had a difficult time stabilizing his vitals. I think this was due to the medications that were in his system. Does Dr. Sweets have a history of drug abuse?"

"No, absolutely not." Brennan said nearly incensed at the question.

"I didn't think so but I had to ask. I noticed a number of injuries on the x-rays, I thought perhaps he was involved in sports, had some injuries which can lead to pain killer dependency." She explained.

"They are from childhood trauma." Brennan explained and the three unfamiliar with this information turned to confusion. "He was very young, I don't know exactly what happened, but I know he is very secretive about them."

"Sweets was abused as a kid?" Angela asked as though it weren't possible.

"How is he now?" Booth asked knowing Sweets desire to keep that a secret from everyone. He shiftlessly wondered just how many secrets Sweets kept.

"He is recovering." The doctor continued. "His vitals have stabilized though I do not suspect him to be leaving the hospital soon, despite his requests that he get back to work."

"He asked that?" Hodgins asked surprised.

The doctor half smiled. "It was the first thing he asked when he woke up post-surgery. Much to his dismay we have to keep him for observation and he is simply too weak to go home."

"Can we see him?" Cam asked.

"Of course." She said standing up leading them down the hall.

When they approached the room Sweets was looking around, sad and bored expressions on his face. He was surprised when he saw them coming in.

"What are you guys doing here?" He asked while clearing his throat. He tried pulling the blankets up around him as though to hide the fact he were wearing a hospital gown.

"Better question is why are you here Dr. Sweets?" Cam asked upset.

"Be gentle." The doctor said under her breath while checking some vitals on the monitor and scribbling them down.

"Sweetie, why did you get hit in the gut, suffer for a week and not tell your friends?" Angela said with a big fake smile.

"Not quite there yet." The doctor said under her breath again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was so bad." Sweets said still fumbling with the sheets. Angela threw her purse down and pulled them up for him. Sweets was surprised as she did it.

"You didn't realize it was bad when you spent a week throwing up?" Cam asked with her arms crossed. The doctor cleared her throat. They all let out a long sigh of defeat.

"I think what we're trying to say Dr. Sweets is that we all care for you a great deal and we're _very _concerned that you kept this from us." Brennan said.

"Ding, ding, ding." The doctor said suggesting they hit the jack pot and took her leave from the room.

"I'm sorry guys, I just didn't think…" Sweets said

"We cared?" Hodgins asked with hurt in his eyes. "Are we monsters?"

There was silence a moment before Booth broke it from the corner of the room.

"Aren't we?" Booth asked and everyone turned to him. "I mean how much do we listen to Sweets? We give him a hard time, we trash his work, and he was sick a week and it took us that long to finally ask about it."

The room was silent again and the sound of Sweets heavy breathing and monitors beeping began to fill the air.

"Look guys, I'm happy you…" Sweets began but it was obvious he was exhausted and it wasn't fair that he was the one who had to fix things on top of it.

"No Sweets, he's right. We should have been better." Hodgins interrupted.

"We _will be_ better." Angela promised.

"But you should get some rest tonight." Cam said seeing Sweets fighting the lure that was coming up on him.

"Thank you." He said and drifted off before anyone could say goodbye.

"We should go Booth." Brennan said as Booth stood firm as they began to file out. He nodded and grudgingly followed along.

* * *

Sweets woke up and began to stretch from habit when the numbness went away and the pain filled his body. He started to cough and his head swirled when he remembered where he was. He felt a hand on his shoulder and a light tapping. He started to relax but he wondered why a nurse would push the nurses button.

He rubbed his eyes to see Booth sitting back in the chair next to him.

"Good Morning Dr. Sweets." A nurse said coming in the room. "Is there a problem?"

"He was pretty in pain when he woke up." Booth said quietly.

"I'm fine." Sweets said but noticed an exchange of looks between the nurse and Booth.

"Let's just check while I'm here." The nurse said and Booth excused himself while the nurse pulled back the sheet and gown to check on Sweet's stitches.

"They look okay, how would you rate your pain?" She asked.

"It's okay." Sweets said but she noticed he was gritting his teeth.

"I'll take that as a seven?" She asked and he nodded. "I'll be back in a moment."

Booth came back in after the nurse left.

"How are you feeling today, seriously?" Booth asked sitting down though Sweets could tell he was uncomfortable.

"Better than yesterday." _It was the truth_, Sweets thought to himself. "You don't need to be here Booth, you should be home with Christine and Dr. Brennan."

The nurse came back in with a syringe and left again after administering it in the IV. Booth knew he had only a few minutes until Sweets might pass out again.

"I came back here Sweets because I need to tell you something."

"Booth it's not necessary…"

"Yes it is." He said and Sweets realized his face registered with a greater degree or anger as opposed to concern. "If you ever, ever do anything like this again Sweets so help me God, I will tear you to pieces myself."

Sweets was taken aback by the mixture in Booth's feelings.

"I'm sorry." Sweets said unsure of what else to say.

"Well, you should be. But we are too. But that's not the point, you tell me, you understand? I'm not doing this again, ever, you understand?" When Booth looked at Sweets this time he saw the red rims of his eyelids.

"I understand." Sweets said now seeing the real sense behind Booth's anger. Everyone reacted to grief differently, this was Booth's.

"Good." Booth said and sat back in his chair. "Now get some rest."

"You should go home." Sweets said as the pain meds started to take over.

"I will in just a minute."

* * *

"Hey, good morning sleeping beauty." Booth said as Sweets heard the rumble of plastic and paper bags.

He opened his eyes to see Booth and Dr. Brennan opening bags and what smelled like food. The nurse brought in a tray for Sweets.

"Looky there, right on time!" Booth announced.

"What's going on?" Sweets said rubbing his eyes.

"The doctor said that if you want to go home you have to eat. She also suggested you would be more relaxed to eat if you were in a more social setting." Brennan said as she and Booth sat down with their breakfasts.

Booth opened the plate for Sweets and pushed his tray forward. "Smells good." He encouraged.

"Yes it does." Sweets said and he was honest this time. "Any good cases come up?"

"Yes!" Brennan began.

"No, we're not discussing cases." Booth said. "Sweets needs some rest, not work."

"I disagree, I think Dr. Sweets is needed on this case and he can work from his bed." Brennan said while Booth shot her glares.

"It's fine, how can I help?" Sweets said setting down his fork to give her his full attention.

"After breakfast." Booth conceded.

Sweets picked up his fork, "after breakfast." He agreed.

"Well then eat fast." Brennan said and they all laughed.

"Yeah this had better be a quick recovery." Booth teased. "We're gonna need you."

Sweets smiled, that was the best medicine he could have gotten.

The End.

* * *

ASC: Damn, done already? That one was shorter. Got an idea for a new one so I think my mind started shifting to the new one already.

Hope you are enjoying all these. It's pretty much in my mind as "and what other trouble can Sweets get himself into?"

Let's fnd out in the next installment...

* * *

ASC: Thanks for the great reviews! If you enjoy these stories and I do have several more so check those out too if you are intersted. :)


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